Warlord
by guardsmansparky
Summary: Exiled and attacked, Naruto becomes the replacement for a killer cyborg, before returning home to exact his revenge. Grievous is Naruto


To say that Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi was worried would not even begin to describe his emotions. Not half a day before, he had fought the cyborg Separatist leader Grievous to the death in personal combat.

The desert sand-colored biomechanical being had been terrifying, reminiscent of the ancient and feared Krath War Droids with a pair of clawed LX-44 robotic legs. The mask of the cyborg general had been heavily based off the skull of the mumuu, a species of tusked quadrupeds from Kalee, and protected the cyborg's entire face, only revealing the general's yellow, reptilian eyes. However, perhaps the most terrifying thing about Grievous was the four-fingered, two thumbed arms that had the capability to split into four fully functional arms.

Obi-Wan had only been able to kill the resilient cyborg by disarming Grievous of nearly every weapon before setting fire to the oil-rich sack preserving his vital organs with several well-placed energy bolts from Grievous' own sidearm.

After the fall of the cyborg general, he had lead an assault on the droids of the Separatists entrenched on the arid sinkhole world of Utapau. To his shock and dismay, the clone troopers he had led, men vat-grown from the genetic stock of the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter, had turned against him and attempted to kill him. It nearly succeeded too, as the pain of betrayal was compounded by the pain and anguish that shot through the force.

The force was an energy source that surrounded and bound all life. For those feelings to permeate the force to that extent…it could only mean the mass deaths of force sensitives in a short period of time.

Obi-Wan didn't pause as he strode around the broken cyborg body of the Separatist general Grievous. He had to get to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple, if not to warn the rest of the Jedi Order in time, then to search out survivors. But to do that, he first needed to get off planet. The late Grievous' personal starfighter would be perfect.

Settling in the cockpit, Obi-Wan looked at the controls distastefully. "I hate flying."

o===0========

As the slate grey starfighter disappeared into the stratosphere, the broken body twitched as a red aura briefly enveloped the biomechanical being. With a mechanical groan, the battered cyborg slowly rose to sitting position. Grievous lived once more.

Getting to his mechanical feet, Grievous took in his surroundings, immediately noting that _the Soulless One_ was missing. Internally sneering, Grievous decided that he'd have to…arrange transport differently. As he plotted, the cyborg general noticed the discarded blaster on the floor. Upon seeing it, the Cyborg remembered the events of the past day.

Fighting Kenobi—while still recovering from the damage done by Jedi Master Mace Windu during the Battle over Corescant and the attempted kidnapping of the Republic's Supreme Chancellor—the loss of his two lower hands forcing him to flee on his wheelbike, and culminating in his final confrontation with Kenobi. The confrontation where he had been disarmed of everything—of his blaster and all his 'collected' lightsabers—save a single electrostaff. The confrontation where…where he had taken five blaster bolts to the synthskin sack protecting what remained of his internal organs, burning him from the inside out. Yet somehow he was alive. Was it possible that…?

'**Yes, it's possible brat.'**

Grievous gave an unseen sneer. 'Kyuubi. So, after all these years, you finally grace me with your presence.'

Grievous suddenly found himself standing in a damp, dimly-lit sewer before a set of massive prison bars, a piece of paper covered in archaic scribbles plastered over the gate's lock. From the darkness within the cage emerged a leviathan fox with crimson fur, long rabbit-like ears, and nine long tails. The fox gave Grievous a toothy, fanged grin that would have induced the emptying of bowels in any lesser being. **"Hello, Naruto."**

As the fox spoke those two words, a lifetime of memories flooded through the cyborg's mind.

o===0========

He had been born one Naruto Uzumaki in a military village on a remote, backwater planet that hadn't even discovered heavier than air flight yet. On the day he was born, the Kyuubi no Yoko, the very nine-tailed fox before him now, had attacked the city, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, AKA the Hidden Leaf, AKA Konohagakure no sato.

The Kyuubi was a being of pure chakra, the energy that pervaded all life on that backwater planet, and as such, practically invincible. It was only the Fourth Hokage's—the leader of the village—sacrifice that stopped the Kyuubi's rampage. Unfortunately for Naruto, that sacrifice had involved sealing the Kyuubi away into his infant self, and by his own father too.

Naruto's childhood had been nonexistent. From the moment he could walk, he had been cast out of the orphanage. Mobs and drunkards had hounded his every step, none more so than on his accursed birthday. It was then that the formerly retired Third Hokage had rescued him form that existence, giving him an apartment all his own. It was at that moment that Naruto swore to gain the Hokage position and to become a shinobi, one of the assassins-for-hire/soldiers of the Hidden Leaf. All so that the glares would end.

Oh what a fool he'd been.

His military education beginning at the tender age of six was a disaster. Sabotaged at every turn, it was only through a fluke that Naruto had graduated, and learned about his lineage. Oh, he'd justified that away, but deep down he knew that he would never have been told. So, he kept it quiet.

His military career had been just as bad. Barely taught anything by an incompetent teacher, who was none-the-less a very competent shinobi, Naruto had faced death more times than he should have. The mission to Wave, The Chuunin Exams, finding the Fifth Hokage after the Third's demise, Taki, Snow Country, the list just kept going on and on.

Then came the betrayal. One of Naruto's compatriots had deserted, and the Fifth Hokage, one Tsunade Senju, had sent out a squad consisting of Naruto and his peers out to retrieve him. Despite crippling and debilitating injuries, Naruto had retrieved the traitor, only to be exiled for his trouble.

But even in exile they couldn't leave him be, hunting him down like a rabid animal. Broken by his attackers, they had left him to the mercies of the wild. It was only through the intervention of on Count Dooku that Naruto had survived. Retrieved from his homeworld, what remained of his body was placed in an empty shell that had been reserved for another before that other unexpectedly died.

His mind was altered and filled artificially with tactics, military skills, weapons, anything and everything to make him into the perfect killing machine in the greater galaxy. With nothing else left to him, he abandoned the name of Naruto Uzumaki and became: Grievous.

o===0========

Grievous sneered as he heard that name. "That person is long dead, there is only Grievous. Nobody cared for Naruto, but as Grievous, I have purpose!"

The Kyuubi looked down on Grievous. **"You know that's not true."**

The cyborg turned his back on the Kyuubi. Without a word, he left the mindscape.

o===0========

Grievous sneered as he returned to the real world. Kenobi would pay, they'd all pay. If only he still had his chakra.

A whirring sound from outside the hidden hangar gave Grievous cause to turn around to see the bulky shape of a black painted Republic Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry gunship hovering just within jumping distance. Behind his mask, what was left of Grievous grinned wickedly. It didn't have a hyperdrive, but it would get him off planet. With a silence that belied his mechanical nature, Grievous disappeared into the shadows.

Safely hidden, he watched as the LAAT/i landed and the first black armored clone trooper disembarked. Grievous' eyes narrowed in contemplation. Those were not standard clones; but black ops commandos, if he wasn't mistaken.

He listened as the leader gave out orders. "Spread out and find the cyborg's body. It shouldn't be far."

So, they were here for him. A glint entered Grievous' eyes. Well, far be it for him to disappoint. He waited for the closest commando to draw near.

o===0========

Grievous dropped the body of the last clone commando and stepped into the black gunship. He immediately noticed the coffin-sized wooden crate on the floor. Stepping over to it, Grievous found his two missing hands and his tattered cloak. Dismissing them for the moment—he could affect repairs later—Grievous entered the cockpit.

Sealing the gunship's troop bay, Grievous was pleasantly surprised to find that the black-ops LAAT/i possessed a top-of-the-line hyperdrive, among several other customizations and modifications, including an enhanced fuel capacity. Putting those little tidbits aside until he left the planet's gravity well, Grievous activated the repulsorlifts and took off.

Avoiding the Republic ships in orbit, Grievous made a micro-jump to the next star system and activated the holocomm. "CIS Central Command Mustafar, this is Grievous, come in." Static was the only response. Internally frowning, Grievous hit the transmit button again. "CIS Central Command, this is General Grievous, come in."

Static. Snarling, Grievous hit his hand on the side of the cockpit. If central command wasn't answering, then the Separatist council had fallen. Grievous sighed and ran a hand over his mask. If the Republic had won, it would mean that he would be tried as a war criminal, even despite only hitting military targets, should he ever show his masked face again. Sitting back, Grievous tried to think of a place he could disappear to.

**'You could always go home.'**

Grievous snorted. 'How? Without chakra, there's no point. Besides, all I ever knew there was pain.'

The Kyuubi snorted. **'You still have your chakra, you just couldn't access it. Besides, there was that one girl, Hinata, wasn't it?'**

Grievous sighed as he remembered the gentle, indigo-haired girl with the soft, lavender eyes who he had shared his first—and only—kiss with. His exile must have hurt her terribly. Suddenly, what the Kyuubi had first said sunk in. 'What do you mean, I couldn't access my chakra?'

The cyborg could just hear the Kyuubi's sneer. **'While you were undergoing the surgeries, I overheard that white-haired old man that 'rescued' us expressing concerns about our power. His 'master' had him put a device into your organ-sack that cut you off from your chakra, and by extension, me. If you see him again, you really should thank that Jedi before you kill him.'**

Grievous sat back, his anger at Count Dooku dampened by the man's previous demise at the hands of the Jedi. 'Still, that doesn't solve the fact that I don't know where home is.'

**'I do.'**

The biomechanical being breathed in deeply. Going back to that wretched backwater world was really his best option, his _only_ option. Maybe…maybe he could find out what happened to his only real friend in the five years he had been gone. He set the coordinates the Kyuubi gave him.

As the stars stretched before giving way to the blue tunnel of hyperspace, Grievous got up from the pilot seat and went to the trooper/cargo hold. Sitting down by the wooden crate on the floor, the cyborg picked up his kaleesh cloak. Reaching into a hidden pocket, he pulled out a tattered, worn picture of a girl with indigo hair. After staring at the picture in melancholia for seemingly an eternity, Grievous put it away. With the soft, blue glow of hyperspace filling the hold, the cyborg began to make his repairs.

o===0========

Grievous stared at the blue ball below that was his homeworld. The cyborg, fully repaired thanks to an IM-6 medical droid found in a locker, contemplated where to land. Konoha, and by extension the land of fire, was out, for obvious reasons. Suna and the Land of Wind was out due to being a military ally with Fire and Leaf (Plus, Grievous really didn't want to risk being claimed by one of the puppeteers there). While Snow Country and maybe Moon Country were possible landing zones, Grievous really didn't know enough about the land to, well, land. Which left only one place; The Land of Waves. The place he'd first stepped foot out of Konoha for. The first place he had truly felt at home.

Waiting until nightfall, Grievous landed next to the bridge from the mainland to Wave Country proper. Stepping out, Grievous looked up at the sign above the bridge with bemusement. **'The Great Naruto Bridge. Hey what do you know, you're popular.'**

Growling at the Kyuubi, Grievous pulled out a remote and sent the LAAT/i back into orbit. The modified gunship had enough fuel for one more jump, should leaving the planet become necessary.

As the faint light from the LAAT/i's repulsors vanished into the night sky, Grievous put up his hood and made his way over the bridge.

o===0========

As he entered the capitol village of the islands of Wave just after dawn, Grievous took note of how much the country had flourished since the death of the midget tyrant Gatou. Surprisingly, there was an underlying tension in the air. Seeing the suspicious looks he received from the few people out and about, Grievous was perplexed. Sure, he was in a feature-hiding cloak, but the people of Wave had been surprisingly hospitable the last time he had been there, even under the iron fist of Gatou.

As Grievous contemplated on what could have possibly changed, he looked up and froze in his tracks as he saw a familiar sight: a ramen stand by the name of Ichiraku Ramen.

Grievous looked at the familiar stand, the one that had been the only place to feed him, sometimes for free, back when he was growing up in that hellhole he knew as Konoha. 'What are they doing here?'

Overcome by curiosity, Grievous entered the stand. A slender, fair-skinned girl with brown hair and eyes was there wiping down the counter, wearing a white robe with folded sleeves, a dark blue apron, and a white bandanna over her hair. Grievous knew her. 'Ayame.'

"I'm sorry; we're not open just yet. Come back in a few—oh!" Looking up, Ayame gasped in surprise as she beheld the cloaked person before her, his menacing mask visible under the cloak's hood.

Grievous held up a hand, causing the gentle-natured young woman to draw back at the sight of the skeletal metal appendage. "My apologies, I did not mean to frighten. I was merely overcome with curiosity. You see, I last saw this stand in the Hidden Leaf Village and was curious as to whether or not it was the same."

Ayame nodded, still somewhat wary of the towering stranger. "Yes, it is. We left Konoha some time ago, after..." The young waitress trailed off, pain clearly visible in her eyes. "I'm sorry, even after all these years, I don't like talking about it."

The cyborg former general saw the pain in Ayame's eyes. 'Is-is she talking of me?' He would find out. "Ah, you've lost someone close to you."

"Yes." The waitress sighed. "We had hoped he would come here to wave someday, but we lost hope of him still being alive when he never did. It's been six years with no sign of him."

Grievous nodded. She was talking about him, or his previous self anyways. "I see. I shall not disturb you further. Good day to you." Without another word or backwards glance, the intimidating cyborg left the stand.

"Ayame?" The twenty-four year old turned to see her father, Teuchi, come out of the back. "Who was it? An early customer?"

Ayame shook her head. "No, it was just a passerby in a mask. But," Ayame turned to gaze at the curtain separating the stall from the outside. "I could have sworn, that we've met before."

o===0========

Grievous stood on the cliff that overlooked the Great Naruto Bridge. Before him were the graves of two of the greatest people Grievous had ever known: Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Hidden Mist, who had engendered Naruto's love for swords which had been twisted to collecting the blades of fallen foes; and Haku Yuki, who had taught Naruto that true strength came from defending those precious to you, something that the cyborg had forgotten until the Kyuubi had fixed those parts of his mind that had been tampered with by Dooku.

Haku and Zabuza had been hired by Gatou to kill Tazuna, the bridge builder that Naruto's low-level ninja squad had been hired to protect. Armed with the legendary decapitating 'carving knife' Kubikiriboucho, and Haku's control over ice, Zabuza had nearly succeeded.

However, during the fight with the jounin leader of squad seven, Haku had died, sacrificing himself to save her master, Zabuza, from an attack that would have killed him. Soon after, after a speech from Naruto left the hardened assassin in tears, Zabuza killed his former employer, the business tycoon and black marketer Gatou, along with an army of thugs. Suffering from several mortal wounds, Zabuza collapsed next to Haku's body. Naruto had personally given the two a proper burial, with the foot wide, six-foot long Kubikiriboucho serving as the master swordsman's gravemarker.

Sighing, the cyborg looked up at the sky above the two graves. "It's been awhile, Haku, Zabuza. I have seen the stars, been to other planets. I have seen things, done things that would make even you quail Zabuza. I have changed, for the worst, my mind altered, my body replaced. It was only in temporary death did I remember what it was that you taught me Haku." Another deep sigh wheezed out from underneath Grievous' mask. "I came here for forgiveness, I think. But does a monster such as me deserve such forgiveness?"

Grievous lost track of time as he stood at the graves on the grassy cliff, engrossed in watching the clouds above and the waves below. For the first time in years, a sense of peace swept over the tormented soul that was once Naruto Uzumaki.

An explosion off in the distance broke the tranquility. Turning around, Grievous saw a column of smoke rising in the direction of Wave Town. Focusing, the cyborg's aural receptors picked up the faint sounds of screaming. Snarling, Grievous turned and grasped the Kubikiri. "Zabuza, I'm going to have to borrow your sword."

o===0========

Wave Town was in chaos as a squadron of blank-masked shinobi in black cloaks occupied the town. The leader, a man dressed identically to the rest addressed his men. "Sack the town. Find the fugitive and burn anybody aiding him. This land is now forfeit to Konohagakure and the Land of Fire."

A voice sounded out from behind him. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that. _Raikiri!_"

A deafening sound akin to the chirping of a thousand birds filled the air as a lightning-encased fist burst out his chest from behind. Dropping the rapidly cooling corpse, Kakashi Hatake stood up straight as he took in the small army surrounding him. Dressed in a black jumpsuit and an old, beat up flak jacket, the wind blew his gravity-defying silver hair as he looked at the blank-masked shinobi around him. Contempt filled his right eye, his left covered by a tilted headband with an attached metal plate, a long scratch going through the stylized swirl-leaf engraved on it. His emotions were hidden behind a black facemask.

One of the white-masked shinobi stepped forward. "Kakashi Hatake, you will come with us to be tried and executed."

Kakashi sneered, the blood on his hand boiling off. "I'm afraid I won't be going anywhere with you ROOT lackeys."

With an unspoken order the cloaked shinobi launched into their attack. Kakashi didn't flinch. He merely unsheathed a white-bladed tanto and slid up the left side of his crooked headband. The scarred eyelid snapped open, revealing a red eye with three commas spinning around the pupil.

He barely blinked as he cut down the first to come within range.

o===0========

It was to this scene that Grievous came across as he mounted the crest of the roof he stood upon; one man facing down a faceless army. The former general snarled upon seeing the shinobis' blank masks. The squad of shinobi who had chased him down had worn the same masks.

Soon, a break in the scrum allowed Grievous to clearly see the lone shinobi stab a lightning-covered fist through a white-masked head. The cyborg silently frowned as he recognized just who was fighting the small army, as well as the slash on his standard-issue forehead protector. If Kakashi Hatake of all people had defected from Konoha, things must have changed drastically.

Grievous watched the fighting carefully. Hatake had clearly improved in his stamina since his…ascension, so to speak, as the last time the silver-haired jounin had been in Wave, he had been drained after fighting Zabuza Momochi for half the time. That and it appeared that the law of Conservation of Ninjutsu was in effect, as the faceless shinobi were falling to the masked missing-nin in droves.

However, not even copy-nin Kakashi Hatake could keep fighting so many, and eventually he began to lag. As Grievous was contemplating stepping in, a shrill scream from a familiar ramen stand caught his attention.

o===0========

Kakashi had just beheaded a particularly annoying adversary when he heard the scream. Risking a look over his shoulder, Kakashi was horrified to see a brown haired woman, who was very obviously several months pregnant, thrown out of Ichiraku Ramen to the ground.

"Ayame!"

Kakashi fought like a madman to get to the petite waitress, only to see an enemy shinobi step up behind her before he could get halfway. The man raised his tanto to stab the woman in the abdomen.

"NO!" Kakashi could only look on helplessly as he was pinned to the ground by several shinobi dogpiling on him. The tanto rose to its apex.

The world froze as the man holding the short sword exploded in a spray of blood and gore to be replaced by a giant blade. Blinking blood out of her eyes, Ayame saw a towering figure in a grey cloak standing above her.

o===0========

Grievous looked down at Ayame as he pulled Kubikiri from the ground. Now that she wasn't behind a counter, it was evident that the waitress was pregnant. He stepped over her and looked over his shoulder. "You should get inside. This is no place for a pregnant woman."

As Ayame scrambled back into the stand, Grievous rested Kubikiri on the ground tip first. He panned his baleful yellow gaze over the assembled shinobi. "I suggest you leave, lest I remove your heads from your shoulders."

Without a word, a previously unseen masked shinobi landed behind Grievous and charged with tanto raised. The cyborg snapped his leg out in a side kick. Grabbing the nin by the face with his clawed foot, Grievous casually lifted him bodily into the air and slammed him to the ground. However, all anybody saw was Greivous' cloak flutter before the nin was pinned by the head with a taloned metal foot. The crack of the man's skull reverberated through the town, blood and brain matter pooling across the cobbles between the clenched talons as the cyborg's cloak settled back down.

Grievous glowered at the masked shinobi before him. Death came off of him in waves as he rose to his full height of seven-foot-one. "So be it."

With a flare of what little chakra the remains of his biological body produced, Grievous' cloak billowed out, revealing him in all his cybernetic glory. With a tan flash, the cyborg stood before the foremost shinobi, cloak fluttering behind him with the bloodied Kubikiri held aloft to the side. For a moment, the world stood still, before the front row of shinobi flew apart in a spray of blood and gore. With a mad gleam in his reptilian eyes, Grievous began his slaughter.

The ROOT members didn't stand a chance. Not only were they up against an untiring enemy whose very body was literally a deadly weapon, but Kakashi had taken the opportunity to throw off his distracted captors with a palmed kunai.

The blank masked shinobi found themselves assaulted from within and without as the cyborg and the copy-nin waded and massacred their way through the glorified cannon fodder. Whole swaths of the cloaked enemy were cut down like wheat to a scythe with each swing of the Kubikiri, while those that managed to avoid the whirring carving knife had to deal with Grievous himself. As many of the ROOT fell to Grievous' hands and taloned feet as they did to Kubikiri.

Kakashi had gotten a second wind after being dogpiled and was living up to his reputation of having copied over a thousand jutsu, unleashing area of effect techniques in droves even as he used single-target jutsu to target the tougher nin. Things only got worse for the ROOT as they began to fall to volleys of crossbow bolts fired by the local militia lead by a sixteen year old boy with flat brown hair.

Soon, only one nin was left alive, pinned to the ground by Grievous' metal foot by the neck as he tried to crawl away. His mask was broken, revealing a terrified green eye and a forehead protector with a swirl leaf. "Wh-what are you?"

Grievous bent over until his masked visage was next to the petrified leaf nin's ear. "Your most Grievous mistake!" Standing upright, the cyborg twisted his foot with a sharp _crack!_

**'Really, 'your most **_**Grievous**_** mistake?' That's the best you could come up with?'**

The cyborg rolled his eyes. 'Shut up. He's dead, isn't he?'

The Kyuubi gave a long-suffering sigh. **'Yes, I suppose he is. You have been entertaining as always.'**

Grievous sneered. Every since he had regained connection with the Kyuubi, the fox had been going on nonstop about his various battles and victories. If he didn't know any better, he'd say the nine-tailed being was doing it to piss him off.

"Hey," Grievous turned his head to see his old teacher approaching cautiously as he wiped the blood from his face. "Thanks for your help. I don't know what I would have done had you not stepped in on time. I am in your debt."

Grievous turned away. "It was no problem, believe it." He internally cringed. That old verbal tick was back. The one alteration to his brain he could have lived with. Blasted fox.

Kakashi froze, the blood draining from his face. "…Naruto?"

Sighing, Grievous turned. "Hello sensei."

**AN: Well, the plot bunnies have struck again. I hope you enjoy this, but I sadly won't be updating this for a while as I'll be focusing on school and my other stories first. Piece out.**

**Why do so many people hate on Hinata anyways? It's not her fault she's been oppressed.**


End file.
